Curried Scotch eggs

Curried Scotch eggs from Tom Norrington-Davies (taken from Delicious magazine April 2008 p56)

What did I make? Well, foolishly enough - Scotch eggs. I say that this decision was foolish because ever since I started on the LighterLife diet (5 1/2 weeks ago), I have been craving Scotch eggs to the point where I can practically taste them and smell them and I have even dreamed about them! I have told pretty much anyone who has asked about any food cravings about them and some people have asked whether I ate them a lot prior to starting this diet. But that's the funny thing really. I didn't eat them a great deal. I might - at the most - have had 2 a month, so I couldn't tell you why I am craving them so much right now. I think it is just that they sum up so many forbidden things right now that I absolutely love. I love eggs in all forms and particularly have a thing for hard-boiled eggs. I love pork, sausage meat and all that good (but naughty) stuff and I love breadcrumbs (especially deep-fried breadcrumbs) - oh dear! When I brought this months Delicious magazine I couldn't help but notice the amazing picture of Tom N-D's Scotch eggs (get thee behind me!). Being the true Psychology post-graduate that I am, I decided to opt for "immersion" therapy and just go ahead and make them and thus enjoy them and fulfill my craving vicariously.

Even without my craving, I would have made these anyway. I love T N-D as a food writer. I first came across him in Nigella's Feast, where she names him as the culinary influence behind her Bakewell slice (and very nice that was too!). Last summer, I brought his book; "Just Like Mother Used to Make" and I thought it was absolutely super. The one recipe that stood out the most was his banana custard and those of you who have read my blog about Nigella's banana custard from HTE (http://www.newnigella.blogspot.com/), will know that I actually preffered it to Nigella's (gulp!).

Because it is very difficult to justify making Scotch eggs for dinner (tea), I decided to make Chris a "picnic-themed" dinner and serve them alongside a quick steak sandwich with all the trimmings - horseradish sauce, rocket, a garlic and red wine jus with some parsnip crisps scattered alongside. I actually got the recipe from a Waitrose recipe card ages ago and have always preserved it as a useful blueprint. It *is* very useful actually, so if anyone wants the recipe, just let me know and I will type it out for you.

Oh by the way, I am *much* happier now with the my weight loss. After a very disapointing 2lbs last week, this week I lost 5 lbs! This brings my total weight loss in 5 weeks up to 24lbs. Just 4 more lbs and I will have lost 2 stones! I still have 4 stones, 6lbs to loose though. That might sound a lot to loose, but that is to bring me down to a very low (imho) target weight of 9 stone 5lbs. Plus, I know from experience that I can look good at 12 stones (I mean, that's the weight I have been through most of my adolescence and 20's) and I only have 1 stone, 11lbs to go before I am just that :)

Oh, by the way, the recipe makes 6 Scotch eggs.

Where did I get the ingredients from? Well unfortunately I had to buy everything from Tescos, because annoyingly our butcher had run out of pork mince (unusual for him). I brought Tescos' nicest looking organic pork mince and hoped for the best. Everything else is fine to buy pretty much anywhere. I must admit, I was a bit dubious about buying curry powder. For some reason, that particular ingredient never sits right with me (I would be very interested to know if it is used in authentic Indian cooking) but I trust Tom's advice implicitly!

(Step 1; boiled, cooled and peeled eggs)

How easy was it to make? For some reason, I think people have terrible prejudices about making "many-layered" food (think Swiss rolls, sponge cakes etc), but I think that this is totally unfounded. Okay, Scotch eggs *look* tricky and they *are* quite laborious to make, but I assure you - they are not difficult and there is a massive difference between the two things.

All you do is boil some eggs for 4 minutes and then plunge them into cold water for a further 4 minutes, make a mince from pork mince, finely chopped bacon (I used the food processor dahling; no faffing around with a cleaver for me!), pepper and curry powder and then wrap a handful (50g) of the mixture around each peeled egg until fully covered by the pork mixture. And believe me; you need less than you think you will. It is quite easy to press one side of the egg into the mixture and then "press" the mixture around the other side to cover the whole egg. Clever, eh?! Then it is just a quick assembly job. Dip each pork covered egg into flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs and fry in a deep pan in a ridiculous amount of oil at a ridiculously high heat for 10 minutes each.

The beauty of this frying process is that the eggs become crunchy and golden almost immediately and look instantly wonderful.

If you are planning on making these - or similar - then just be aware of the fact that the deep frying is *very* dangerous. The heat is tremendous for one thing. Also, be aware that the finished product is very oily and will need to sit on kitchen paper until fully cool. Lastly (and I really don't mean to scare you off here), the whole house *stank* of deep-frying Scotch eggs for at least 24 hours after making them....and possibly still does...I may have just become immune to it and walking around in a big greasy cloud...

(Step 2; each egg fully wrapped in the pork, bacon, pepper and curry powder mixture)

(Step 3; each egg dipped in flour, beaten egg and rolled in breadcrumbs)

What did Chris think? Luckily, even though the Scotch eggs were essentially *my* craving, Chris absolutely loved them. He said that they were by far the *best* Scotch eggs that he has ever tasted (high praise indeed, given that he used to eat home-made fresh Scotch eggs when he was younger).

He said that the eggs were gorgeous and nothing like the shop-brought ones. He said that each one was like a full-meal in itself - there was spicy meat, eggs and the carbs of the fried breadcrumbs (I think I've hit upon the reason why I'm craving them!) and all in all, they were just lovely. Chris said that the best bit was the meat - he could really taste the streaky bacon in the mixture.

As I had made 6 and Chris had only (!) eaten 3, I took 2 over to my parents and the last one over to my friend Louise's house and I'm pleased to say that everybody that has tasted them has become an instant convert!

(Step 4; Frying the eggs in a hideous amount of oil!)

Was I tempted to cheat and eat one? Given that I have been craving them for over 5 weeks now, it was probably a monumentally stupid decision to go ahead and make them, so yes; I was tempted. Very tempted.

(Step 5; Tuck in!)

Did I cheat? I will never know how I mustered up the will-power not to....but no. I was a good girl and didn't even eat a scrap! Hey, come on....I had my mushroom soup and peanut bar baked into a flapjack to look forward to! Plus, I have lost so much weight now that it would be a massive shame to jeopardise that.

The next day, when I took the leftovers to my parents and Louise's house, I was less tempted to cheat; I always find the lure of fried food much less in the cold light of day.

(Chris's dinner)